It is known in the art relating to locomotives and other powered rail vehicles to drive the powered wheel and axle assemblies with electric traction motors supported partially on the frame of the vehicle, or an associated railway truck, and partially on the axle to which the motor is drivingly connected. Commonly, a pinion gear on the motor output shaft engages a larger gear on the driven axle. A predetermined center distance is maintained by support bearings on one side of the motor frame which engage the axle at spaced locations near the drive wheels to support one side of the traction motor on the axle.
In such constructions, it is common to use oil lubricated split sleeve bearings as the motor support bearings, although various other types of bearings can alternatively be used. One proposed arrangement of this type is shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,765,734, issued Oct. 16, 1973 to the assignee of the present invention. The bearing bores usually include cylindrical portions which are aligned with one another on an axis that is generally coaxial with that of the axle. The outer portions of the bearings may be relieved with radii or conical portions to accommodate some wear and misalignment of the bearings and the associated axle journals.
In the case of some relatively heavily loaded high powered diesel-electric locomotives in commercial service, I have concluded that under certain conditions wear of the motor support bearings is primarily concentrated on the outer edges of the bearings, adjacent their thrust flanges, and is most severe in those heavily loaded bearings that are located on the pinion end of the traction motor, adjacent to the axle mounted drive gear.